Planning Morocco

I'm going to Morocco over Easter break! It'll be my first time on the African continent. I'm flying in and out of Fez, and since I only have a week, I'm thinking of just visiting a few places in the north of the country, probably Chefchaouen and Meknes.

Right now I'm in the exciting planning stages. Tracking down friends, acquaintances and friends-of-friends who've been there, and picking their brains for must sees, places to visit, and travel tips. Considering how close Spain is to Morocco and the close touristic ties that exist between the two countries, there's no shortage of people here who have vacationed there and have information to share with me.

But of course I wanted some sort of guidebook as well. Though I'm a big fan of the Rough Guides series, as far as mainstream travel guides go, this time I've given Lonely Planet some of my hard-earned cash, and for a very specific reason. Through the Lonely Planet website, you can mix and match chapters of their guidebooks and instantly download them in PDF format and pay only for what you download. Why is this great? First, I know I'm only going to have time to visit a few places in Morocco, and therefore wouldn't need or use the whole guidebook, which covers the entire country. I'd rather pay only for what I need. Second, travel guidebooks are heavy to lug around and very conspicuous -- to be seen with one in public SCREAMS tourist. I plan to print off the most essential of my PDFs to carry with me, lightweight and stigma-free. Third, by downloading a PDF to my computer I avoid schlepping around to several bookstores trying to find what I need, and I also avoid shipping charges for on-line purchases, and I get my info instantly. It's nice to see traditional publishers embracing new technologies and new business models to deliver their content, adapting to and taking advantage of what the Internet has to offer.